For a GM-free Ukraine! 

Keep the Genes in the Test Tubes

Modern science has reached a level where it now intrudes on matters which had previously been sealed against mankind. It has penetrated into the secrets of the genetic codes of plants, animals and humans and is trying to alter these codes. For instance, genetic engineering makes it possible to transfer genes from one living organisms to another, thereby modifying their natural properties. This can enable plants to resist herbicides, viruses and droughts. It can endow them with valuable therapeutic qualities, or, conversely, get rid of unwanted characteristics. This has lead to the creation of the so-called “golden rice,” rich in carotene and iron, potatoes with the increased starch content, sugar beets with a low-calorie substitute for sucrose, caffeine-free coffee and plants capable of producing vaccines against human diseases. There are cows in the world giving lactose-free milk and technologies that increase milk suitability for cheese making. These are but a few examples of what biotechnology has already created for us. It seems that we are about to enter a qualitatively new stage of development.
In contrast to this brave new world idea, many scientists, including those in Ukraine, have expressed their concern that transgenes may damage the environment and human health. They also claim that transgenes will imperil the economic security of countries which have no biotechnology industry by making them dependent on transnational companies that produce agricultural crop seeds. Such companies invest huge amounts of money in the production of transgenes and thereby saturate the world's food market to derive maximum profit. It is estimated that the world's GM food market will be worth $6 billion in 2004, next year its value is expected to reach $10 billion. Under the pretext of eliminating hunger in the developing countries, GM producers may permanently tie these countries to transgenic seed producers and make them completely dependent on the grace of monopolists. 
This list of concerns is why a cautious and sober-minded Europe protested so strongly against rapid commercialization of genetically modified plants, imprudently imposed by international biotech firms. This is why the public in Ukraine reacted so negatively to attempts to push potatoes on to the Ukrainian market which “even the Colorado beetles refuse to eat”. Luckily, Ukrainians succeeded in imposing a ban on the registration and cultivation of this variety.

Transgenes Tiptoe In
Specialists say, however, that GM plants and products are spreading in Ukraine in violation of the law. First, they are getting into the country in imported goods, because without the proper means of identifying them, it has been impossible to single them out. Experts assert that GM components are contained in products made by transnational companies with established sales networks in Ukraine. The illicit transgenes come in children's food, fish sticks produced with the addition of GM soybeans, in certain beverages and in cosmetics. Manufacturers of such products are in no hurry to disclose the content of GM ingredients, reasonably fearing a backlash from consumers.
Similar slyness is displayed by people who grow GM potatoes, which they acquired as part of pilot testing, and now sell it at about $1 a potato, though they refrain from eating the potatoes themselves. 
Nor is all of the circulation of GM premeditated. Hryhoriy Petiukh, who works at the Agro-Biotechnology Institute, uses this real-life example: Two farmers from the Vinnytsia region grew soybeans and decided to export it. However, an obligatory testing for GM organisms required by the EU countries unexpectedly revealed the presence of foreign genes in soybeans. It was like a bolt from the blue for the farmers, who only then realized they'd been sold transgenic seeds without their knowledge.
Samples of GM soybeans and potatoes can be tested by the virology and biotechnology laboratory of the National Agrarian University. The tests are ordered by soybean producers hoping to sell their products on the European market. No tests have been commissioned by state institutions, though. They are studiously pretending not to notice the uncontrolled movement of GM products in Ukraine.
How should we respond to the invasion of transgenes? What can we expect of them in a nation already hard-hit by the Chernobyl radiation? These questions are of great concern to Ukrainians, as evidenced by recent discussions in the Bila Tserkva Agrarian University and the British Council in Ukraine on March 10-11 and 18, 2004.

Not Everything is Right in the Kingdom of Denmark
The leading Ukrainian scientists at the meetings repeatedly emphasized the fundamental point that biotechnology, as a science, has great potential. They acknowledged that countries which do not pay attention to the development of biotechnology may find themselves standing by the side of the road to progress and thereafter be fed by others. Therefore, it would be foolish not to develop the national biotechnology industry at all. 
However, the main idea of the meetings is that despite these advantages, the expedience of immediate widespread consumption of biotechnology products is still doubtful. There is simply not enough data to speak about the danger of GM organisms with any certainty because they have been in use for too short a period of time for nature and the human body to react. 
Despite the short history of GM, there are reasonable grounds to assume that many dangers exist. GM residues have been found in the digestive tracts of animals which might lead to toxic contamination. Transgenic structures can also be carried in pollen and pollute other plants. GM pollen, along with fifteen kinds of weeds resistant to herbicides, has been found in honey. A gene which imparts mycotoxins (carcinogens) resistance to corn has been found in corn products. Petiukh says that in Denmark, the remains of herbicides were detected in groundwater after the application of roundup technology. “Not everything is right in the Kingdom of Denmark”, the researcher concluded.
Transgenes may contribute to reduction in biodiversity, destabilize the human genome, cause congenital defects and lead to infertility. The possibility that they may activate latent viruses, provoke oncologic diseases and allergies and jeopardize human heredity is also extremely dangerous. Scientists are perturbed at the fact that in Russia, which has legalized GM, the number of allergy cases has tripled over the past three years. Up to 30% of the inhabitants of Asia, where GM rice and soybeans are grown, also suffer from allergies. Scientists have been unable to establish a direct relationship between these facts, but consider it prudent to think about them.
Agricultural scientists also assert that even if GM plants are not directly harmful, they are no panacea. Prof. Stanislav Vasylkivskiy, a Ph.D. in Agriculture, gave this example: Over the years in which Argentina carried out mass introduction of GM soybeans, the use of herbicides in this country increased fourfold. Supporters of GM plants say that such crops will ensure higher yields. But the productivity of transgenic soybean is sometimes lower than that of ordinary varieties because its root system is weak. 
Moreover, it has been observed that in Ukraine, transgenic potatoes lose their resistance to Colorado beetles considerably faster than they should, two or three years instead of the promised five. “If we were to invest ˆ2,000 per hectare in fighting weeds, as well as implementing other agro-technical measures, as it is done in the West, GM potato would not 'wear out' this fast,” said Director Maksym Melnychuk of the Plant Biology and Biotechnology Center . Thus, each country must carefully decide on the expedience of cultivating this or that kind of GM plants. For instance, specialists think that Ukraine can consider growing rape with increased oil content for biological diesel fuel production. But do we really need transgenic foods when we have enough good traditional, so-called “organic,” products?
S.Vasylkivskiy held that biotechnology should not be opposed to traditional selection. We are far from having exhausted the huge potential of agricultural plants. For example, a record high yield of winter wheat is 147 centners, corn — 277 centners, potato — 1400 centners, sugar beets — 1500 centners. His suggestion is that we ought to better learn how to make use of the potential of our land and domestic varieties rather than wait for dubious foreign foods.

Buying a Pig in a Poke
Of course, Monsanto Corp. Representative Mykola Boiko emphasized that the negative effects of GMOs have not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. He claimed that people were afraid of genetic engineering because of inadequate knowledge about it. 
But let it not be forgotten that it was Monsanto that tried to illegally register its transgenic potato in Ukraine, tested it on servicemen, and then tried to conceal these facts from the public. It was only natural that the public then revolted against the suspicious spud.
In the meantime, who will study possible negative effects of GM if this activity is financed much less than the introduction of GM is? As a rule, studies on the consequences of GM are ordered by state institutions with limited funding. On the other hand, transnational biotech firms with billions of dollars in profit have a conflict of interest if their experimental findings show that their profitable GM business is harmful. Monsanto alone has already spent millions of dollars promoting its transgenes. On the other hand, the Agro-Biotechnology Institute received no funding at all for studying the negative consequences of GM products. As a result, there is no approved methodology of risk assessment in Ukraine.
One of the issues discussed at the seminar held at the British Council was why Ukraine still does not mark GM products, despite having the legislative right to do so. Participants decided that the reason is not only the absence of a procedure for exercising the relevant laws. 
Seminar participants were unanimous: uncontrolled import of transgenic products, carried out with the silent consent of government institutions, benefits foreign companies. Even if somebody wished to inspect the tide of imported packets of GM foods, he would be unlikely to be able to do so. The laboratory of the National Agrarian University is probably the only institution in the country which can identify GM products, and even it is not always able to do so. Laboratory Chief Andriy Syvyk warned that the more sophisticated GM products become, the more difficult it will become to identify them. 
Not incidentally, prior to joining the EU, candidate countries are required to harmonize their legislation with that of the EU, including legislation against GM. Therefore, Ukraine will not be able to avoid the GM problem if it seeks to join the European community. In Europe, the obligatory marking of GM products is regarded as a provision of human rights legislation on information. This is intended to give individuals the ability to choose those products which suit them best. 
Having recognized GM corn, the British government nonetheless decided to subsidize the production of traditional agricultural crops. British government officials say that the UK will not hurry to allow the commercial application of GM beets and rape. It will continue to exercise prudence in respect to GM products, and the protection of human health and the environment will remain a priority. Scientists and public figures think that Ukraine should adopt a similar approach. We should create a state system of bio-security, develop legislation on the use of GM, introduce GM controls at the state border and the marking of products containing GM materials. Without these measures, the invasion of transgenes, which has already penetrated Ukraine and many other countries, may have unpredictable consequences.